Ultimo Dragon
Yoshihiro Asai (born December 12, 1966 in Nagoya, Aichi), better known as Último Dragón, is a Japanese professional wrestler. In addition to having trained in Japan, Asai learned to wrestle in the lucha libre style while working in Mexico. Asai is credited with popularizing the "Asai Moonsault", although, contrary to popular belief, he did not invent the move. Career Asai debuted in New Japan Pro Wrestling in 1987, but left the promotion along with his mentor, Gran Hamada, to help form Hamada's Universal Lucha Libre promotion. When the ULL went into decline, he moved to WAR. Asai made his American debut in 1996 as Ultimate Dragon for the now defunct World Championship Wrestling promotion. He used this name for a year in WCW until in late '96 when they realized it was a translation error and his real ring name was Ultimo Dragon. He suffered an arm injury in 1999 that required surgery. The operation was botched, causing nerve damage. It was thought that this would force an end of his career and he announced his retirement. In 1997, Asai then became a trainer where he trained three classes of students, "Toryumon Japan", "Toryumon 2000 Project" (T2P) and "Toryumon X". His first class of students worked for WCW early in their career. In 1999 a promotion named Toryumon opened, with the vast majority of the roster having been trained by Asai. Toryumon was later renamed Dragon Gate, with Asai parting ways with the promotion. He continued to train students at his gym. In 2002, Asai underwent another surgery to repair the damage done to his arm and returned to wrestling. In the spring of 2003, he signed with World Wrestling Entertainment as the Último Dragón, seeking to realize his two lifelong goals of competing in Madison Square Garden and performing at WrestleMania. He was brought in on the heels of the signing of Rey Mysterio on the belief that he would make as big of an impact as Mysterio did upon his WWE debut. Asai made his WWE debut at Madison Square Garden on the June 26, 2003 episode of SmackDown! in a match with Shannon Moore, and wrestled there again at WrestleMania XX. His contract expired in 2004. Since leaving the WWE, Asai has occasionally wrestled for the Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre. Currently he has been wrestling at UWA Hardcore Wrestling based outside of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He has wrestled against Sonjay Dutt, M-Dogg 20, Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley and Black Tiger all in the UWA. Wrestling facts Finishing and signature moves *''Dragon DDT'' / Asai DDT (Standing shiranui) *[[Professional wrestling holds#Dragon sleeper|'Dragon sleeper']] *''Dragon Tornado'' (Corkscrew moonsault) *''Dragonsteiner'' (Stands behind opponent who is seated on the top rope then twists around the opponent into a frankensteiner) *''Dragon Bomb'' (Running slingshot sitout powerbomb) *''Asai Moonsault'' (Springboard moonsault on the outside of the ring on a standing opponent) *''Aztec Suplex'' (X-Plex) *''Dragon Swing'' (Giant swing) *Running sitout powerbomb *Dragon suplex *Tiger suplex *La Magistral cradle *Dragon screw Championships and accomplishments *'New Japan Pro Wrestling' :*2-Time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion :*1-time WWF Light Heavyweight Champion :*1-time NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion :*2-time NWA World Welterweight Champion :*3-time WAR International Junior Heavyweight Champion :*2-time British Commonwealth Junior Heavyweight Champion :*2-time UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship :*1-time WWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Champion *'World Championship Wrestling' :*2-time WCW Cruiserweight Champion :*2-time WCW World Television Champion *'Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre' :*2-time NWA World Middleweight Champion *'Universal Wrestling Association (Mexico)' :*5-time UWA World Middleweight Champion :*1-time UWA World Welterweight Champion *'WAR' :*1-time WAR World 6-Man Tag-Team Champion (with Nobutaka Araya and Genichiro Tenryu) *'Michinoku Pro' :*1-time Michinoku Pro Tohuku Tag-Team Champion (with Jinsei Shinzaki) *'Pro Wrestling Illustrated' :*PWI ranked him # 61 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003 *'Wrestling Observer Newsletter' :*He is a member of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (inducted in 2004) :*2003 Most Underrated Wrestler External links * The Official Website of Ultimo Dragon * Ultimo Dragon's MySpace Asai, Yoshihiro Asai, Yoshihiro Asai, Yoshihiro Asai, Yoshihiro Asai, Yoshihiro